Niti Aayog To Launch A Portal To Let Startups Use Public Data

The Indian Government think tank Niti Aayog, plans to allow access to public data for private organizations and startups by launching a new online portal.

According to the CEO of Niti Aayog Amitabh Kant, the Indian government will publish guidelines on Artificial Intelligence (AI.) Alongside, the whereabouts of public data by private institutions will be also published.

Emphasizing on the usage of artificial intelligence in enhancing businesses productivity, Mr.Kant spoke about Niti Aayog’s plans about the upcoming online portal.

Mr.Kant said,

I believe innovations always come before the regulations. Hence, few policies might not be very relevant. And in certain areas, it’s better for the government to let private players innovate and disrupt.

He spoke at a conclave on AI, organised by Bennett University. The university launched the leadingindia.ai initiative. The initiative created a network of more than 100 academic institutions and industries to fulfil the gap in quality workforce and trained manpower in AI technologies.

This interesting initiative is supported by NVIDIA, Amazon, edX, Newton Bhabha Fund, the Royal Academy of Engineering UK, Brunel University and University College, London. There were over 30 artificial intelligence startup founders who interacted with the academia, government, industry and even investors.

Mr.Kant also added,

LeadingIndia.ai has the potential to change the landscape of AI research in India as they bring together startups, industry and academia to work on providing application-inspired ideas.

Focusing on AI, Kant added the technology could help boost India’s yearly growth rate by 1.3 %. The Indian Government introduced the implementation of AI in increasing agricultural productivity and are working with different organizations such as Microsoft, IBM and ISRO in various sectors.

Alongside, Niti Aayog announced to build 5000 labs in all the districts of India by the end of the year. The think tank, had last year selected an additional 1,500 schools across India for setting up Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) programme as well.

However, the Indian Government allocated over $ 480 million under the Digital India initiative in the Union Budget 2018, in order to encourage innovative and startup ideas!